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If that is the cause, shouldn't all actors in future dramas set in the Elizabethan era, the Stuart period or the English civil war should speak with a General Southern American Accent from now onwards?

Could The BBC hire American actors to play historical English characters who lived before the 18th century and simply let them use their natural American accent.

__________________"I've tried atheism and I can't stick at it: I keep having doubts. That probably sums up my position."

I think the accents in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia would be closer than general Southern. They're similar to the Southern accent but without the drawl, and tend to be very rapid and clipped with vowel sounds that I still have to interpret for people. My "i" sound, for example, is closer to what you say when a doctor puts a tongue depressor down your throat. People have frequently heard me and said, "That's a vowel?!!!"

I think the accents in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia would be closer than general Southern. They're similar to the Southern accent but without the drawl, and tend to be very rapid and clipped with vowel sounds that I still have to interpret for people. My "i" sound, for example, is closer to what you say when a doctor puts a tongue depressor down your throat. People have frequently heard me and said, "That's a vowel?!!!"

If that is the cause, shouldn't all actors in future dramas set in the Elizabethan era, the Stuart period or the English civil war should speak with a General Southern American Accent from now onwards?

Why does everyone in something set in Ancient Rome have British accents instead of Italian accents? Yes, I know Classical Latin didn't sound Italian, but it sounded far more Italian than English. Some things are just conventions by now.

I should add two clarifications to your post.

First, and I assume this is fairly obvious, but I should say it anyway. By old English, you mean Elizabethan English (which is an earlier modern English). It was after the great vowel shift. Before that point, everything was pronounced (and pronounced differently). The word Knight literally pronounced the k, n, g, and t and the i was like the i in the word Nick. That language would sound alien to us.

Second, more to the point. Elizabethan English was closer to a southern accent, but the southern accent has changed as well. The article there doesn't take a firm position on what accent would have been spoken. The recent discussion about Richard III demonstrates some British accents that predate the colonial period that are close to what is there today. I've heard in the past that the Tidewater accent is the closest, but the article you linked to seems to dismiss the idea.

I think what we do know is this:
The accent wasn't an RP accent. If a similar accent survives today, it'll probably be a lower class accent.
It was a non-rhotic accent. Most (if not all) accents in England don't pronounce their R's. Similarly, with the exception of Philadelphia and Baltimore (Mid-Atlantic accent), the American accents on the east coast are the same. The Mid-Atlantic accent owes its use of the R to a significant German and Irish population. The rest of America followed suit (either because they were settled from this group or out of a conscious decision to distinguish themselves), but the accents derived from English accents don't pronounce R's.

Yes, I know Classical Latin didn't sound Italian, but it sounded far more Italian than English.

For what I understand, Classical Latin should have sounded like a mix between Italian and German: lots of hard consonant, intermixed with long, open vowels.

Alidar Jarok wrote:

It was after the great vowel shift. Before that point, everything was pronounced (and pronounced differently). The word Knight literally pronounced the k, n, g, and t and the i was like the i in the word Nick. That language would sound alien to us.

And that would sound like bliss for me, or anyone who speak a language with a regular, consistent pronunciation. I love English, but the divide between written and spoken English is hell.

Yes, I know Classical Latin didn't sound Italian, but it sounded far more Italian than English.

For what I understand, Classical Latin should have sounded like a mix between Italian and German: lots of hard consonant, intermixed with long, open vowels.

Alidar Jarok wrote:

It was after the great vowel shift. Before that point, everything was pronounced (and pronounced differently). The word Knight literally pronounced the k, n, g, and t and the i was like the i in the word Nick. That language would sound alien to us.

And that would sound like bliss for me, or anyone who speak a language with a regular, consistent pronunciation. I love English, but the divide between written and spoken English is hell.

It may be hellish, but I would venture to say that there are few languages that offer such rich opportunity for wordplay!

First, and I assume this is fairly obvious, but I should say it anyway. By old English, you mean Elizabethan English (which is an earlier modern English). It was after the great vowel shift. Before that point, everything was pronounced (and pronounced differently). The word Knight literally pronounced the k, n, g, and t and the i was like the i in the word Nick. That language would sound alien to us.

You beat me to it. There are three different Ages regarding English (before getting to Modern English):

Old English (from the first traces of written texts circa the 8th century).

Middle English (from the 11th century in parallel with the Norman invasion)

Elizabethan English (up until the 18th century)

As Alidar mentioned, the Great Vowel Shift took three hundred years to take place, and that's one of the constants of any languages; they mutate.

EDIT: Oh by the way, I studied History of English at college (a minor in Linguistics) and it was awesome! I remember "Vader Ure"

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Yes, I know Classical Latin didn't sound Italian, but it sounded far more Italian than English.

For what I understand, Classical Latin should have sounded like a mix between Italian and German: lots of hard consonant, intermixed with long, open vowels.

Alidar Jarok wrote:

It was after the great vowel shift. Before that point, everything was pronounced (and pronounced differently). The word Knight literally pronounced the k, n, g, and t and the i was like the i in the word Nick. That language would sound alien to us.

And that would sound like bliss for me, or anyone who speak a language with a regular, consistent pronunciation. I love English, but the divide between written and spoken English is hell.

It may be hellish, but I would venture to say that there are few languages that offer such rich opportunity for wordplay!

The diversity of the English language is both its greatest strength (for those who know how to exploit it) and its greatest frustration (for those daring to learn it.)

I have been told that the different American spellings of written English words is a throwback to older versions of the language. With regard the spoken language, some American accents probably do have close links to older English, but so do some English accents - these are the two often stated to be the most closely related (and one I am very familiar with) :